On the other hand!
Damian moved like the wind, his figure a swift blur as he dashed along a mountain path toward the town.
He chose to go alone because he had his own plan.
First, to use this chance to test his combat power.
Second, to look for Shaina's trail.
Third, to avoid unnecessary risks.
With so many Silver Saints together, there were too many mouths and too much noise. He'd sensed hostility more than once and couldn't tell if it was jealousy or some other agenda.
It was more reliable to act alone, lest he lose patience and flatten that bunch of Silver Saints with a Titan Nova. Friendly fire would be ugly.
Actual combat experience was what he lacked.
Since crossing over, he'd stayed cautious in the graveyard, practically without real fights. Now that he was drawn into a whirlpool of chaos, with battles everywhere and vicious, inexplicable monsters as foes, this was a chance to train.
"What exactly is happening ahead?"
He smelled an overpowering stench of blood.
It was so strong it was acrid, drifting from the direction of the town.
Damian stopped at once. He could feel something off up ahead, a highly dangerous aura rushing toward him.
Danger!
He slipped behind a dead tree.
He'd hidden less than ten seconds.
A reeking giant lumbered over. Its face was bluish and tusked, skin tinged green, even taller than the giants from before—definitely more than three meters.
It was hunched, with long, thin limbs, muscles sharply outlined—giving a false impression of being musclebound.
That huge single eye was full of bloodlust and chaos. Its wide nostrils sniffed for lingering human scent, expression puzzled as it looked toward where Damian had vanished.
Clearly it had just detected a human here, but couldn't figure out why he'd suddenly disappeared.
Moments later, it started to turn away when a hand reached from the darkness.
Die!
Crack!
The hand moved cleanly and silently, tapping the back of its neck—snapping the neck, spine, and every bone in the body in an instant. The massive head sagged onto its shoulder, the body collapsing into a heap of meat.
The corpse fell without a sound. Damian dragged it into the brush for a closer look.
"So giants are this weak?"
Damian frowned.
He'd intended to strike only if a sneak attack failed.
Instead, the thing died in one move. Its weak point was obvious.
The dead giant's body was grotesque, studded with tumors. The large lump on its back looked like a giant maw with a disgusting tongue inside.
Its flesh began to corrode rapidly, muscles dissolving, black smoke stinging the nose, soon shrinking to a human-sized corpse.
A human transformed?
"Tsk, tsk. What even is this species supposed to be?"
Damian frowned in confusion.
He'd kept the Saint Seiya main plot roughly on track, but what were these giants? They could even contend with the Sanctuary?
Pope Saga had already dispatched many Sanctuary vanguards for the Sicily disaster—most of the Silver Saints. For the Sanctuary, that was the scale of a war.
Which showed how seriously Saga took what was happening on Sicily.
He looked toward the town blazing ahead and moved in carefully.
Step by step, he came across bodies—mostly ordinary people, with some of those hunchback monsters he'd seen earlier—truly horrific.
Burned homes lined the road along with shattered walls, scattered casings, and guns. A brutal fight had happened here.
He reached the town center and frowned slightly.
The stench of blood was thick.
The main street was covered in bloody corpses—so many it was terrifying. There were elderly and children, men and women of all kinds. Some were roasted on spits. Some showed signs of being gnawed. Most were missing limbs.
The bodies were piled into several hills.
And all their hearts were gone—as if dug out of thin air.
A chill ran over Damian's skin and his stomach roiled.
He had seen death in the graveyard, but a mountain of corpses like this turned his stomach.
Too bloody, too glaring, too cruel!
Monsters were monsters. To them, ordinary people were food. Without protection, they were sheep waiting for the knife.
This was a slaughter—a living massacre.
It was a typical mid-sized European town, with at least a thousand residents. Judging by the deaths here, two or three hundred had been killed. The rest must have escaped?
Otherwise blood would be a river and the piles of bones would be even worse.
Just the number of corpses and the level of gore shook Damian to the core, an unnamed anger flaring in him.
In times of chaos, human life was cheap and bones were everywhere. But this was twentieth-century Europe, peaceful and serene. For this to happen was beyond comprehension.
He had to learn where these giants and monsters came from.
"Shaina should be fine. Among the Silver Saints she's no weaker than Marin—top ten in strength. One or two of them can't take her. But I'd better find a live person and ask."
He stopped, senses prickling.
Distant shouts and sounds of fighting reached him.
Fighting?
There were still living people in this dead town?
Damian frowned.
That was a Cosmo ripple.
If there was a Cosmo ripple, it had to be a Saint—probably one of the Silver Saints sent to scout earlier.
He tapped his toes and vaulted lightly onto the roof of a tavern, moving toward the fighting.
Soon, a strange scene opened before him.
Smoke choked the street ahead.
He could make out a Saint, covered in blood, besieged by several hunchbacked monsters, barking "Hah! Hah!" as he fought.
The man was nearly two meters tall, wielding two discs, staggering. He was hit again and again. Without his Cloth he'd be done for.
Behind him lay a widow and her child, both down in a pool of blood, life or death unknown. Only the child seemed able to move, trembling in his mother's arms.
"Auriga Capella—one of the weaker Silver Saints. Is he poisoned, or injured?"
Damian judged at a glance.
Even weak, he was still a Silver Saint. Yet he looked spent—his strength was draining fast. His swings grew slower and slower. He wouldn't last long.
"Forgive the intrusion, everyone."
Damian leapt from the rooftop, landing behind the hunchbacks.
Hearing the sound, the monsters whirled.
Pup-pup-pup-pup!
Four supersonic punches blasted out—shockwaves exploding their heads.
Supersonic punches throw fist-gale; the faster the speed, the stronger and farther the shockwave can kill—ten meters, even dozens. Lightspeed punches produce a qualitative change.
"Thank you… thank you for saving me!"
"You? You're not a Saint?"
The rescued Silver Saint's face was smeared with blood. He looked delighted, staggered forward, tottered, and finally fell forward.
Damian frowned and didn't rush to catch him—he tapped his toes and slipped aside.
The instant he moved, Capella whipped his discs and attacked.
Blades howled. Where Damian had been standing was cleaved by both discs, carving two gashes several meters deep into the ground.
"Tut, tut, tut… so you saw through it."
A thin, raspy voice came from Capella's mouth.
Damian's face didn't change. "Who are you?"
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]